Big Bob Pataki
Robert Pataki, known better by his nickname "Big Bob". Big Bob, also known by the initial "B" by Miriam, is a fictional character on Hey Arnold!. Since Miriam was supposedly born in 1952, it is safe to assume that Bob is close to the same age, putting his age somewhere around 45-50 during the series' original run. He owns a chain of beeper emporiums called Big Bob's Beepers, though he also may have another small business selling high-tech camping equipment ("Roughin' It"). Big Bob serves as the antagonist to Arnold and his friends or family in several episodes (Most notably "Parents Day"). Later in "Big Bob's Crisis", Big Bob appears to finally have redeemed himself after having a heart attack. Big Bob then promises himself and everyone else that he will try to be nicer to other people other than himself. Appearance Big Bob is indeed big, he looks like he was at one point muscular, but has let himself go and started becoming overweight. He boasts the same eyes, ears, nose, and unibrow as his daughter, Helga. He has gray hair, combed to the left side (though in the movie, he has brown hair). Most of the time, he wears a short sleeve green golf shirt with a golden crown on the left side by the chest. He wears dark brown pants and big white belts. Personality Bob is very neglectful and inattentive, who seems to put much of his attention in his business and his image as the "Beeper King", though he does in one episode undergo a change in life and let go of all of his material things. He is also extremely competitive and often takes his competitiveness too far, such as when he called Arnold and his grandparents "some orphan boy and his ancestors" in "Parents Day". During competitions, he often makes angry remarks toward his competitors. Though he surprisingly does love them, he is often ignoring Helga, even forgetting her name sometimes. Because his oldest daughter, Olga, is a multi-talented achiever, he shows an apparent favoritism towards her, while he often ignores his younger daughter, Helga, and often forgets her name, calling her Olga time and time again. He has a very short temper and seems very thick headed, such as when he ran through poison ivy in "Roughin' It". His two catchphrases are saying "Hey....Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!", which Helga has adopted, and "criminy" which has also been picked up by Helga. He is a huge blowhard. However, despite his self-centered personality, it is shown on several occasions that he does actually care about others, including Helga and other kids, and somewhere within is a conscience and a big heart. It has been shown in several episodes that Bob's favorite show is Wheel of Fortune, or possibly a similar show called "Wheel" that exists in the Hey Arnold universe. Bob drives a blue Lincoln Continental Mark V and also owns an olive drab Hummer. Relationships Miriam Bob seems to have lost interest in his wife Miriam. Their marriage is extremely dysfunctional, with their lack of communication and Miriam's apparent alcoholism. It is not known if the relationship between Miriam and Bob was ever exuberant, but it is hinted that Miriam gave up her life to marry Bob, who she thought was a great guy, but was proven wrong in the long run. ("Olga Gets Engaged") However whenever Olga comes home, they seem much happier and act more lovingly toword each other. Olga By far, out of the nuclear Pataki family, Olga is Bob's favorite. Bob is always proud of Olga for her many accomplishments. He has an entire collection of all of Olga's trophies lining the walls of his den. Bob often calls Helga Olga. Helga Most of the time, Bob has no idea that his youngest daughter even exists. Bob only gets involved in Helga's life when it benefits himself, as when Helga approached him to ask his company to sponsor the class float in "Runaway Float" or when it has do with a competition, as in "Parents Day". Despite all of this, Bob has come through for Helga on a few occasions, most notably in "Quantity Time" when he mistakenly buys her tickets for a musical called Rats instead of the wrestling match she had been hoping to see (though both father and daughter end up enjoying the corny musical anyway). Also in "Arnold's Thanksgiving", Bob becomes concerned when Helga goes missing and is happy when she finally comes home. He has also cared about Helga in other occasions such as "Save The Tree" and "Arnold's Halloween". Nick Vermicelli Nick Vermicelli is Bob's associate and possibly a business adviser. He presumably works at the beeper emporium with Bob. In Hey Arnold!: The Movie he and Bob engage in a violent fight after Bob finds out he tricked him into signing off 51% of his company while reveals Nick was Scheck's henchmen. Che Che is a river pirate and a henchman of Lasombra in the sequel Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie. During the fight sequence, Bob was furious at what Che did to Olga, chases him around the encampment and beats him up for breaking Olga’s heart. Trivia *Bob has been shown to be a quite vulgar character on a few occasions. **In "Summer Love", Bob passes gas while driving the car on the way to the beach, to which Miriam responds by opening the window and fanning the resulting smell. **In "The Beeper Queen", Bob can be heard saying "Mother scratcher!" when he is yelling about his back hurting. Another sugar-coating of obscene language. **In the movie, he tells Nick Vermicelli that he will "beat the living snot out of him" for tricking him into signing the contract. Yet another curse word coverup. He also says that Vermicelli and Scheck "shafted" him. *Bob owns a large Hummer decked out with army decals. It was only used once in "Arnold's Halloween" to travel through Hillwood which was thought to be invaded by aliens. It was mentioned again in "Arnold's Thanksgiving" when Bob was dressed up as a soldier & he was going to use it to track down Helga when she went missing. * Bob's Hummer is only seen in a few episodes, and his daily driver is a blue Lincoln Continental Mark V with vanity license plates that say "BIG BOB." The Lincoln is seen in many episodes, driven by both Bob and Miriam, and seems to be the Pataki family car. The powerful luxury coupe fits Bob's personality almost perfectly. *In "Helga and the Nanny", Big Bob mentions that he has not had potato dumplings since his "baba" last cooked them. Seeing as how "baba" is Ukrainian for "grandmother" as well as pierogi (potato dumpling) being an Eastern European dish, it can be assumed that Big Bob is of Ukrainian descent. However, Bob could have also said "papa", which is a generic term that can mean either "father" or "grandfather". Additionally, "Pataki" is a Hungarian surname. *Despite that in the show he had what seemed like grey hair, in the movie his hair was brown. *Despite being overweight in most episodes, in "Arnold's Halloween" Bob appeared to be at a healthy weight. This may be an animation error. *Also on "Arnold's Halloween", Big Bob has commented about losing money over football games, indicating that he gambles on them. Category:Hey Arnold! Heroes Category:Parents Category:Redeemed Villains Category:Cartoon Heroes Category:Antagonists Category:Pawn of the Villain Category:Brutes Category:Protectors Category:Anti Hero Category:Wealthy Category:Male Category:Loyal Category:Envious Category:Scapegoat Category:Dreaded Category:Heroic Jerks Category:Thrill-Seekers Category:Wrathful